LED colors

[icemountain]

What's the difference between the 440nm, 450nm, and 460nm blue leds? Which ones do corals do/look better under? i am thinking of swapping out some of my white leds to blues and not sure which one would be the best. All the blues on my fixture are currently 450nm. And what about UV LED, are they any good to have? Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[jm23]

Tisk tisk...we can help you too on that other site, lol. The problem with LEDs is they give off such a specific spectrum, hence these new "full spectrum" setups. With blue from my readings, you want a mixture of royal blue and blue in order to cover as much of the blue spectrum as possible. Depending on the coral, depends on what specifc light spectrum it absorbs the most of, so since we have a mixture of different types of corals we need to cover as much of the spectrum as possible. I would suggest doing a mixture of the blues for your tank. In regards to UV LEDs, I would say that the jury is still out. Some people sing their praises and others say they are harmful not only for the corals, but the other inhabitants as well. Since people have people reef tanks with out the UV LEDs I chose to leave them out of my last build. GL.

 

[Dave A]

Take a look at jedimasterben's thread on lighting spectra, it's stickied at the top of this forum. It is an excellent presentation of the information that you've asked for.
Without knowing what LEDs you have already, it is impossible to tell you what you should add. 450-460 nm LEDs are generally a poor choice, emitters below 450nm will be closer to the spectral peaks that you want to hit. You should also have some 470-490nm blues, some violets (is this what you meant by "UV?") and some 660nm red. If your current fixture uses CWs, it might be wise to add some 630nm as well

 

[Reefing Madness]

In LED speak, I believe that when you are looking for them, look for both Blue and Royal Blue LEDs, not just the one color.

 

[Dave A]

In LED speak, I believe that when you are looking for them, look for both Blue and Royal Blue LEDs, not just the one color.

Look for specific wavelengths of Royal Blue (<450nm) and Blue (>470nm) and also look for Violet.

 

[icemountain]

Tisk tisk...we can help you too on that other site, lol. The problem with LEDs is they give off such a specific spectrum, hence these new "full spectrum" setups. With blue from my readings, you want a mixture of royal blue and blue in order to cover as much of the blue spectrum as possible. Depending on the coral, depends on what specifc light spectrum it absorbs the most of, so since we have a mixture of different types of corals we need to cover as much of the spectrum as possible. I would suggest doing a mixture of the blues for your tank. In regards to UV LEDs, I would say that the jury is still out. Some people sing their praises and others say they are harmful not only for the corals, but the other inhabitants as well. Since people have people reef tanks with out the UV LEDs I chose to leave them out of my last build. GL.

Always a good idea to post in multiple areas to get more replies and experiences from different people

Take a look at jedimasterben's thread on lighting spectra, it's stickied at the top of this forum. It is an excellent presentation of the information that you've asked for.
Without knowing what LEDs you have already, it is impossible to tell you what you should add. 450-460 nm LEDs are generally a poor choice, emitters below 450nm will be closer to the spectral peaks that you want to hit. You should also have some 470-490nm blues, some violets (is this what you meant by "UV?") and some 660nm red. If your current fixture uses CWs, it might be wise to add some 630nm as well

Thanks! I will take a look at that thread. By UV, I mean 390nm. The violets that i have on it now are 420nm I believe. Does that sound right? My blues are all 450nm. So you are saying I should more blues that are below 450nm? Evergrow offers 440,450,460nm for blues. That's what they told me last night when I was figuring out what colors I should order.

Look for specific wavelengths of Royal Blue (<450nm) and Blue (>470nm) and also look for Violet.

What nm are violets? My blues are currently all 450nm. Should I order either more of 440nm and 460nm or both?

 

[Dsdaley77]

IME, True Violet seems to be 420nm and <410nm is in the Ultra Violet range down to non visible (to the naked eye) UVB at 315nm.

Again in my opinion and experience, it is very beneficial to have True Violet between 410-425nm in any reef tank but no lower end UV's (<380nm).

My reasoning comes from the fact that we believe a good portion of the beneficial bacteria that gives most coral it's color also acts as a sunscreen of sorts to protect the coral tissue.

If we stimulate it lightly with the use of small amounts of True Violet rather than the extreme effects of UV it would seem to me we would develop a relationship between the coral and our lights that they can easily and successfully adapt to. Then at some point add in one or two accent lights with a very wide spread in the lower end of UV to further stretch the abilities of the beneficial bacteria.

If it were me I would get again one or two bulbs and have them on a separate dimmer unit to play with intensity.

435-495nm seem to all provide beneficial effects both to the corals overall health and our viewing pleasure. As mentioned above by someone else, LED's are pretty specific as far as spectrum of each color, so again it would seem to me a mix of the colors available (435-495) with the most in the middle at around 455-465nm is the way to go.

Just my two cents


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[icemountain]

THanks for the help everyone! I am going to order some 440nm, 460nm, and 420nm. I am going to replace the 380nm with more 420nm.

What about for whites? I currently have 10k and 65k leds in my fixture. Am I good with these or should I order another spectrum of white and replace them with either 10k or 65k? Sorry about all these questions. Figured that since I have a chance to order led bulbs for a good price, I should get everything I would possibly need now with this order.

 

[Dsdaley77]

For me, the white is all about preference. Crisp white, yellowish natural look or hint of blue....... Depending on what you like will decide which warmth to choose. My best advice on the whites, find out what the visual temp of the lights (overall visual look of the light) is and select those. Personally I like a mix of the 10K and 6500K.


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[Dsdaley77]

On a side note to LEDs when it comes to replacing them, it would depend on how long you've used the fixture. If you had the fixture for several months to a year I would say swap out all the LEDs so that you don't have some start burning out before others are ready to go. That way when it's time to swap bulbs out you may just do them all to ensure equal intensity and proper operating temp, if that makes sense


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[rosshamsandwich]

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